Bedell Cristin acts on $5 billion debt restructuring

Bedell Cristin partners Anthony Dessain and Edward Drummond and Associate Jessica Bermingham have acted on the recent successful restructuring of syndicated bank facilities of over $5 billion for United Company Rusal plc ("Rusal"), a Jersey company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is one of the world's largest producers of aluminium with operations in 19 countries and more than 61,000 employees.

The case involved parallel creditors' schemes of arrangement which came before the Courts of both England and Jersey on 10 and 15 July 2014 respectively. Having obtained orders from the respective Courts to commence the scheme process, Rusal's further negotiations with lenders led to a consensual restructuring.

The Bedell team worked together with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in London and Robin Knowles CBE QC and Daniel Bayfield of South Square.

Polina Lyadnova, who headed up the team at Cleary Gottlieb, said:

"We would like to thank Bedell Cristin for all their hard work on this complex matter, working to a tight timetable, and we look forward to working together with them in the future".

Charles Anderson, Head of Corporate Finance Legal at Rusal, said:

"We greatly appreciated the professionalism of the Bedell team throughout the process and took great comfort that we had Jersey's top minds in the field working with us".

In line with the increase of cross-border transactions globally, courts in different countries are increasingly working together to resolve cross-border issues. Bedell Cristin has acted in a number of cases involving contemporaneous proceedings in different courts, which require a strategy to be implemented which will ensure the best outcomes are achieved in all relevant jurisdictions, and a co-ordinated approach between the different legal systems, procedures and lawyers involved.